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Author Notes:This recipe is adapted from The Still River Cafe, a restaurant whose kitchen I worked in for a stretch. We used to poach huge vats of these, but they're much easier at home. Make a batch, and then eat the leftovers on yogurt and in oatmeal. —Kenzi Wilbur

Combine everything save for the pears in a large, heavy saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to simmer. Add pears, and bring everything back up to a simmer.

Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer slowly until pears are tender when pierced with knife, about 25 minutes. (But start checking at 20 minutes! Depending on the ripeness of your pears, this could take slightly less or more time.)

Transfer pears to a plate or platter. Boil liquid in saucepan until reduced to 3 cups, about 20 minutes. (Can be made 1 day ahead -- just cover and chill pears in the poaching liquid. Before serving, rewarm over medium-low heat until pears are heated through, or simply serve them at room temperature.)

If you like, reserve one cup of the poaching liquid and reduce it down into a syrup to use for drizzling when you serve. Or, serve with vanilla ice cream.

I love this recipe and all of the secondary treats you can make with them! I was thinking about under-poaching them a bit, and then using the pears and some of the reduced sauce to make a tarte tatin? Any tips? Is that crazy?

I love this recipe but I omit the sugar, it's not needed for my taste, and the water. I also let the pears simmer for about an hour instead of 25 min and that gets them to a nice color. I use not too ripe Bosc pears and they still hold up well after a whole hour.I serve this with freshly whipped cream and use the leftover sauce to make jam.